Lunenburg Town Meeting to vote on new school Tuesday night

LUNENBURG -- Special Town Meeting will be asked to approve two warrant articles tonight, including one that would bring the town one step closer to having a new middle/high school.

The proposed project would house students in grades 6-12.

The total cost of the project comes in over $72 million, but the Massachusetts School Building Authority would chip in more than half the cost. Lunenburg's total cost for the project would be about $36 million, which would be spread out over a 30-year bond.

If the new middle/high school is constructed, Turkey Hill Middle School would house grades 3-5, and the primary school would house prekindergarten through grade 2.

The School Building Committee, established to study all possible options for the district, decided a new 6-12 school is the best option.

The other preliminary options studied were taking no action, a limited renovation to the high school, a renovation/addition to the high school, a renovation and expansion of the high school to accommodate grades 6-12, and new construction of a high school for grades 9-12.

The middle/high-school project, as proposed, includes a two-story building with separate wings for the high school and middle school. The gym and media area, which can be used for community events as well, are in the center of the building, and the theater and gym would be connected to the new building completely, instead of jutting out toward the middle school, as previously planned.

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Early site work for the project would begin in June and last through August. Construction would begin in the fall and be completed by the spring of 2016. In the summer of 2016 and through the early fall, the existing school would be demolished.

If Town Meeting doesn't pass the project, taxpayers can expect to incur much higher costs to maintain the existing schools, Dave Matthews said. Matthews is a selectman and a member of the Building Reuse Committee.

The T.C. Passios School, which currently houses the district offices and other educational programs that rent space, would have to come back online, and it has about $10 million in repairs that need to be done.

Also, Matthews said, the high school is in need of at least $35 million in repairs, which would still not bring the school up to code.

"If we move forward with this project, it's a 50-year fix, and it takes two buildings offline," he said. "This is a great opportunity to get $36 million of state money into the town to address our long-standing issues. If we lose this opportunity, it will put a larger burden on them locally than they want."

He said there are residents who believe this is not the best option for the town and that it can be done differently, but he said it would be "fiscally challenging" to accomplish it without the help of the MSBA.

Matthews said he strongly believes this is the absolute best option for the town to pursue.

"It's a huge opportunity," he said. "It's massive. This will actually help us reduce our future deficits, as opposed to growing them. If we say no to this, we're going to be growing our future debts."

Matthews said he has been involved in the process for several years, including failed talks with both the Ayer-Shirley Regional School District and North Middlesex Regional School District, which includes Ashby, Pepperell and Townsend, to regionalize their respective school districts.

"I've been dealing with this, in one form or another, for eight years, and we've looked at every conceivable option and every conceivable layout," he said. "We're getting the same value for two schools in one building as we would for one school in one building."

If Town Meeting approves the plan, a ballot election will be held Saturday at the Passios School to approve a debt exclusion as the funding mechanism for the middle/high-school project.

A debt exclusion temporarily raises property taxes beyond the state-mandated 2.5 percent only until the project is paid off.

Town Meeting will also be asked tonight to approve an amendment to the town's zoning bylaw to implement a temporary moratorium on medical-marijuana treatment centers and registered marijuana dispensaries.

In November 2012, voters approved a law regulating the cultivation, distribution, possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Currently in the town's zoning bylaw, a registered marijuana dispensary is not a permitted use. By implementing a moratorium, the town would have more time to study and consider the regulation, and address any issues that may arise by allowing a medical-marijuana facility.

Despite the fact that the town cannot restrict a medical-marijuana center from coming into the town, no center could come into town during the moratorium. The moratorium would remain in effect until the end of 2014, or until the town adopts a new bylaw, whichever comes first.

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